Brian JohnsonChairman & Philosopher in Residence at Heroic

Confidence Is NOT This: It’s This… (Heroic +1 #1,746)

17 Dec 2025 · 2 min

Episode

17 Dec 2025 · 2 min

0:00

Brian Johnson says confidence isn't knowing what will happen, it's knowing how you'll respond. He calls this antifragile confidence: using whatever happens as fuel for growth, like how wind extinguishes a candle but fuels a fire.

Questions this episode answers

Tuesday, January 30 at 1:40pm Central Time.

At least their 425th one-on-one coaching session.

Chapters

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome Back to another heroic plus one. On Tuesday, January 30th at 1:40pm Central Time, Phil Stutts and I connected for what was at least our 425th one on one coaching session. He surprised me by wearing his Arete T shirt. We were twinning and it was awesome. Check out the picture now. I took another three pages of notes that day. Let's turn to page two for today's wisdom. Father Yoda and I were chatting about confidence, a theme we have explored many times. When he said something that struck me in the moment and has since found a permanent home in my consciousness, he said that confidence is not I know what will happen, but I know what my response will be. Think about that for a moment. Confidence is not about knowing what will happen, per se. It is, I repeat, knowing that it doesn't matter what happens because you know you will use whatever happens as fuel for the next stage of your growth. That is true confidence, and that is what we want to develop. And that is why I tattooed antifragile confidence on my left forearm. We must trust that we have what it takes to respond to any and all of life's challenges as we use those challenges as fuel to get stronger. As Nassim Taleb tells us, the wind extinguishes the candle, but fuels the fire. Here's to doing the things you say you will do to build your fire today.